Light in the Tunnel
by WeavileShonee
Summary: When Fire Nation Wakato Nakamura moves to the Earth Kingdom colonies, he's unsure about what to think of the war. He doesn't know what he can do or who he can talk to. That's before he meets Yama, an Earth Kingdom boy living in the mountains. All OC's.
1. Chapter 1: A Game with the Enemy

Just to let you guys know, this is an old fanfic I wrote, so I really won't have much up here, if anything to say at all. I'll try to update weekly. Enjoy~! ^^

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**CHAPTER ONE: A Game with the Enemy**

Moving to a new place is hard. You have to leave behind your friends, your school, and your entire town.

But when you move to a recently captured town that is part of a kingdom at war with your nation? That's harsh. And that's just what happened to me.

My name is Wakato Nakamura, and I'm eleven years old.

I've recently been forced to move to the Earth Kingdom, where the Fire Nation – where I'm from – is at war. My parents and little brother, Jiro, are very supportive of the war and therefore moved here along with me to help keep control of the colonies.

I don't really know what to think of the war, though. Especially when it's on my History homework. I mean, how am I supposed to know the exact date of when Fire Lord Sozin attacked the Air Nomads?

Geez. History can be so confusing.

I'm stuck on that exact question at my desk, sucking on the strings of my uniform absent-mindedly. I don't have the courage to ask my father about it, because he will automatically know that I'm just hoping for a free answer.

But that's probably because I'm not so smart and ask him for answers a lot.

Finally, I give up, setting down my quill and staring out my window. The only view out there is that creepy old mountain, where people say that Earth Benders are secretly plotting their revenge on the Fire Nation. I don't believe all that, though. They're just rumors, right? Plus, it's a great place for me to practice my Fire Bending. It's the one thing I'm actually good at!

I make my way slowly out of my desk and open my window as quietly as possible. Jiro sleeps next door, and he's a good listener… and also a big tattletale. He'll blackmail me 'till no tomorrow if he finds out I'm practicing my Bending instead of homework.

The window creaks. I freeze in horror, waiting with the hair prickling on the back of my neck. After a few heart-pounding moments, I let out a sigh of relief and slide out the window.

There's a slanted roof right outside of my window, and if you slide down a bit, you can land easily on the ground. It's the perfect escape route.

I drop down to the ground, grabbing a stick for a torch, and begin to make my way up to the mountain.

The mountain must've been a beautiful place before we came. The patterns in the rock face must have told stories of how the Earth Benders and nature shaped it, and the plants residing there must have flourished in the sun.

But now… now it's all burned and blackened. Nothing grows. The Fire Nation armies stormed the area, and nearly burned the entire mountain.

I don't get it. I don't get why we have to basically destroy the world in order to make it a better place. Maybe it's the right way, maybe it's not. I don't know.

I'm shaken out of my thoughts when I arrive at the entrance to one of the many tunnels. I Fire Bend the torch as a light, and then enter.

The cave is a really creepy place, but I become used to it fairly quickly. I even start to admire the stalactites and stalagmites creeping up and down the walls.

After about five minutes of wandering, I think I hear footsteps. At first I ignore it and think it's my imagination. But then the footsteps get closer, like they're coming near me. Beginning to sweat, I walk faster. The footsteps quicken their pace. Full out nervous and afraid, I dash down the tunnel, the footsteps running along like me.

I round a corner, then-

"OOOF!"

"Oww-ah!"

I'd collided into someone headfirst, who was now falling onto the ground in pain. Groaning, I look up, and pause in wonder and curiosity at the boy in front of me.

He's about my height, with scruffy brown hair and an unmistakable Earth Kingdom outfit. He's covered in dirt and dust from head to foot, like he's been living in the wild, maybe this mountain, for quite some time.

He looks up at me and takes in my appearance. I get ready to defend myself. An Earth Kingdom boy like this could assume I'm his enemy, seeing my Fire Nation dress.

He opens his mouth. I brace myself for those words of hatred.

"What are you hiding from?"

I blink, catching the last of his lips moving. Really? He said that? Not something like "I hate you!" or "AAH! FIRE NATION!"

I open my mouth, about to ask why he's not afraid of me, but change my mind and decide to question his questioning.

"How did you know?" I ask.

"Daw, only time people come up here anymore is 'cause they're hiding from sumthin', or jus' plain stupid," they boy says, getting up to his feet and brushing dust all over the place. "'N' you don't look stupid."

"Okay, I'm hiding from homework," I mutter. "And my little brother." I look up at him and ask, "What are you hiding from?"

The boy laughs, a chortle that echoes through the cave and bounces off of the tunnels. "Naw, I'm jus' stupid. Well, I am stupid, but I've kinda been forced t'live up here."

I feel a pang of sympathy, and the boy continues:

"But you got off th' lucky way, didn't you? Hidin' out in th' Fire Nation."

His last words startle me. "Huh?"

"Don't pretend! I 'kin tell! Ya haven't attacked me yet, so ya must be Earth Kingdom!"

Again, that stereotype that all Fire Nation people are always going to attack whoever they see. I decide to go along with his assumption.

"Um, yeah," I say. "I'm Wakato."

"Great!" they boy says, cracking into a lopsided grin. "I'm Yama! I've actually been livin' in this mount'n for quite a while. Well, ev'r since the Fire Nation took over the village."

I feel another pang of sympathy for Yama. _I _did this. _My_ people did this.

"It was hard for me, too," I say, half-truthfully. "Fitting in with the Fire Nation is tough. But they're not all bad. Some of them are nice."

I'm trying to get a better picture of us to Yama, but he doesn't seem to be listening.

"Why don't we play a game?" He says, sitting down on the ground.

"What kind of game?" I ask, plopping down across from him.

"It's one I made up! I've been trying to find someone to play it with." Yama inhales, and punches into the ground. Out of the rocks, two dice form. He was an Earth Bender!

He begins to explain the game to me. It's all a buzz and blabber of excitement, but I think the game is called "Double-Stone," and you win by getting two two's on both dice, twice in a row.

We play. I have a hard time understanding the points system at first, but it becomes easier as we progress.

Yama gets his first pair of double two's. On his next turn, it looks like he's going to only get a pair of three's, but I see him tilt his head to the left, and the dice flip back to two's.

"Hey!" I laugh. "Cheater!"

Yama grins sheepishly at me, but plays fairly from then on.

For a while, we play more games with the dice, and I tell Yama some traditional Fire Nation stories. He tells me about his culture too, when I claim that I've forgotten what it was like to live in the Earth Kingdom.

Soon, however, I remember that I have homework to finish. I explain this to Yama, and his face falls.

"But we had so much fun…" He says. "Will… will ya come t'see me tomorrow?"

I pause. It's really dangerous to be seeing an Earth Bender, especially after curfew. But, then again, Yama is pretty much the first friend I've made here, even though he isn't what I expected.

"Okay," I finally say, but it sounds like the words are coming out of someone else's mouth.

Yama grins at me, then, with a rumble of shifting rocks, he is gone. A small symbol is on the wall, which looks something like the Earth Kingdom insignia. I assume it means that this is where we'll meet.

I grab my torch and make my way of the mountain, a little shaky. I'd just met someone from the Earth Kingdom, and they didn't even attack me. They accepted me as a friend. I don't even notice I'm home until I nearly bump into my house.

I leap up onto the roof, and climb up to the window, sliding into my seat. My History homework is still there. Great.

I pick up my brush and suck on my strings again, lost in thought.

Should I go see Yama tomorrow? I could get in serious trouble. Maybe I should ask dad. Er, he wouldn't understand. Maybe if I make the situation hypothetical.

Well, Yama'll be hurt if I don't visit him, right?

Agh. This is so confusing. Maybe, I think as I climb into bed, maybe I'll visit Yama tomorrow.


	2. Chapter 2: A Hypothetical Situation

**CHAPTER TWO: A Hypothetical Situation**

I wasn't paying attention all through today. I nearly poured juice on Jiro this morning, I kept bumping into others during school, and I didn't even hear my teacher's lecture about paying attention until she snapped her fingers an inch away from my nose.

I was thinking about Yama, wondering if I should go see him again. He seemed like a really nice kid, but it's extremely dangerous and traitorous to be seeing him like this. So I finally decide that I should talk to my dad about it.

It becomes a very awkward conversation.

It's during dinnertime, in that time period where everyone's pretty much finished but you're still talking, and then there's that silence where almost everyone takes the opportunity to talk.

I take it first.

"So, Dad," I say. "Can I ask you about a hypothetical situation?"

"Is this another question about homework?" Dad asks.

"No," I say, knowing that question would come first.

Dad raises an eyebrow, but says nothing.

"Let's say there's this kid from the Fire Nation, and he meets this kid from the Earth Kingdom in a secret place," I begin, twiddling my thumbs. "And they sorta become friends. Er, hypothetically. And the Earth Kingdom kid asks the Fire Nation kid to come tomorrow, but there's a war going on. What should the Fire Nation kid do?... Hypothetically?"

"Wakato?"

"Yes?"

"Are you _sure_ this isn't a question on your homework?"

"Dad, this is a hypothetical situation here!"

Dad sighs and says, "Well son, I would think that a young man or woman of the Fire Nation would make the wise decision to not see that boy again, for it is a traitorous thing to do and could result in death. _Hypothetically_."

He stares at me on the last word, expecting the reflexive triumphant grin when I get a free answer on a homework assignment.

I try my hardest to keep my expression neutral, and Dad relaxes back into his seat, still eyeing me suspiciously.

"Um, I'm full," I say, breaking the silence and pushing away my plate. "Later."

As I walk out of the dining room, Dad says, "I don't know _why _he continues to think he can get 'free answers' out of me."

"Well, you keep giving them to him, dear," Mom replied, and I was on the staircase up to my room.

I flop back into my desk, and resume my typical position. Literature homework this time, and it's just about as easy as my History work last night, which, by the way, I failed.

I turn around and look at the mountain. Yama would be coming up there any second to wait for me. I couldn't go see him. I'd get caught, wouldn't I?

I look back at my Literature work. Well, it's better to be up in a mountain with an Earth Bender then tackle _that_ komodo rhino poop.

I slide out my window, grab a torch, and walk up to the caves once more, Fire Bending the torch once I make it inside.

Yama is there, and when he sees me, he grins incredulously.

"You actually came!" He exclaims. "I was jes' beginnin' to think ya wouldn't!"

"Sorry I'm a little late," I apologize. "I had some trouble with my parents. They didn't want me to go."

"Ya mean ya told them?" Yama asks. He looks a little afraid. "No one's supposed t'know we're up here!"

"I made it a hypothetical situation."

"A hippo-what?"

"Never mind," I say, suppressing a snort of laughter. "How about a round of Double-Stone?"

Yama sighs, apparently still on the previous subject. "Sorry. It's jes' that ev'r since the Fire Nation kicked us out, we've kinda been tryin' t'keep all secret-ish!"

"Secret-ish?.... Wait, did you say _we_?" I gasp. "You mean there's more of you?"

"Well, yeah!" Yama grins. "Th' Fire Nation couldn't wipe ALL of us out, right?" He slaps his hand over his mouth. "I… I wasn't supposed to tell you that…" He says, his voice muffled.

"Don't worry about it," I say. "I'm on your side, I remember?"

But I feel that somehow familiar pang of guilt as he grins back at me.

"Thanks," He says. "I havn't felt like this since the Fire Nation attacked our village. Y'know, the one down there that you're livin' in."

I nod, the guilt and sympathy growing worse.

"It jes' got taken over a few weeks ago, but it feels like it's been forever…" he sighs, leaning against the wall of the cave. "'N' I'm already homesick."

"Me too," I agree, thinking of my old home in the real Fire Nation, "I can hardly remember the old stories my parents used to tell me when I was little."

Yama's eyes brighten. "Would ya like to hear one?"

Really? A real traditional Earth Kingdom story? I could hardly believe the stuff he told me last night, and now I'm hearing an actual story from the Earth Kingom?

"Sure!" I say.

He tells me the tale of the Cave of Two Lovers, leading to Omashu, what was also a Fire Nation colony, now taken back by King Bumi. It's very interesting, and leaves me lost in thought while he speaks.

In fact, I'm sitting there for a few minutes before I realize he's done.

"That was great!" I exclaim, then, catching myself, add, "I'd almost forgot all about that story."

Yama looks really happy. It seems that he's been waiting for someone to say something like that about his storytelling.

"I bet ya have to be going soon, though," He says, his expression suddenly falling.

"Yeah, I do," I say. But then, I add, "I'll come visit you tomorrow, okay?"

"And the day after that?"

"And the day after that."

"And the day after THAT?"

"And the day after that."

"And the day after-"

"YAMA," I finally say loudly with a small laugh, "I'll keep visiting you even if it kills me."

"I hope it doesn't!" Yama says, and he Earth Bends himself out again.

I smile, and turn around to walk out of the cave. But, instead of thinking about seeing Yama tomorrow like yesterday, I'm thinking about something else. The war.

Hearing Yama's side of the story was really shocking. I never really thought about how others thought about it.

But it makes sense.

I mean, if we're so great, then why do we have to destroy others' lives in order to prove it? Why do we need violence and hatred to show we're the best?

I don't know what to think anymore.

I think… I think I need to finish my Literature homework first.


End file.
